Associate Director - Engineering

Principal-Global-Services; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 3,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Principal seeks an Associate Director - Engineering to lead critical initiatives with deep technical knowledge, critical thinking, and flawless execution. This role influences technology direction and drives enterprise-wide impact.

You will build and mentor a team of senior specialists, deliver scalable frameworks, and collaborate with business leaders to tackle complex challenges with measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• 18+ years of experience in technology leadership roles.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Proven track record leading senior technical teams and large-scale initiatives.
• Strong expertise across Cloud, Infra/Platform Engineering, AI & Automation, Reliability, Security.
• Ability to guide strategy and manage delivery across multiple teams.
• Hands-on technical credibility with an engineering mindset.
• Experience driving modernization and capability-building programs.
• Excellent collaboration, communication, and executive engagement skills.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to GCH - IS Capability Maturity strategy and deploy specialist teams.
• Drive modernization, engineering maturity, automation, cloud adoption, and platform transformation.
• Establish engagement models, governance, and success metrics for key initiatives.
• Build and mentor a senior technical team, strengthening capability and depth.
• Deliver reusable frameworks, accelerators, and playbooks that scale across IS.
• Collaborate with business and technology leaders to tackle complex challenges.
• Influence senior leaders across business and tech functions.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration to accelerate enterprise outcomes.
• Act as a trusted technical leader for enterprise architecture and transformation initiatives.

Skills

Leadership of senior teams

Enterprise-scale initiatives

Cloud

Automation

Infrastructure modernization

Security engineering

Executive engagement

Strategic delivery

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/Engineering/Math or equivalent

Tools

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Infrastructure/Platform tooling

CI/CD automation

Kubernetes/Container orchestration

Job description

What You'll Do

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

At Principal, we foster a culture of innovation and collaboration, where your expertise and enthusiasm can truly make a difference. As the Associate Director - Engineering, you will lead critical initiatives that require deep technical knowledge, critical thinking, and flawless execution. This role offers an outstanding opportunity to influence our technology direction and drive significant enterprise-wide impact!

Primary Responsibilities

• - Contribute to the GCH - IS Capability Maturity strategy and deploy specialist teams to accelerate strategic enterprise initiatives.
• Drive technology modernization, engineering maturity, automation, cloud adoption, and platform transformation.
• Establish engagement models, execution standards, governance, and success metrics for high-impact initiatives.
• Build and mentor a team of senior technical specialists, strengthening organizational capability and technical depth.
• Deliver reusable frameworks, accelerators, playbooks, and guidelines that scale across IS.
• Work alongside business and technology leaders to tackle complex challenges, guide strategy, and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Influence senior leaders and collaborators across business and technology functions.
• Foster multi-functional collaboration to accelerate enterprise-wide outcomes.
• Act as a trusted technical leader for enterprise architecture, engineering excellence, innovation, and transformation initiatives.

Secondary Responsibilities

• Contribute to department and organization-level high-level initiatives.
• Represent the Automation vertical within various technical and other forums within PFG and the industry.

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

• 18+ years
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, or related fields, or equivalent professional experience (B.E. / B.Tech / M.S. / M.Tech / MCA).
• Demonstrable experience leading senior technical teams and enterprise-scale technology initiatives.
• Strong expertise in one or more areas such as Cloud, Infrastructure/Platform Engineering, AI & Automation, Reliability Engineering, Infrastructure Modernization, Security Engineering.
• Established skill in guiding technology strategy and managing delivery across several teams and areas.
• Strong engineering approach with hands-on technical credibility.
• Experience leading large-scale change, modernization, or capability-building programs.
• Excellent collaborator management, communication, and executive engagement skills.

Preferred Certifications

• AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or equivalent cloud certification.
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or equivalent platform certification.
• CCNA or equivalent certification around Network & Infrastructure.
• SAFe Agilist, Scrum, or Agile leadership certification.

Required Behavioral Proficiencies

• Make sound business decisions.
• Embrace Change.
• Build positive relationships.
• Get results.
• Act Strategically.
• Lead and Cultivate Talent.

Additional Information

Why Principal

At Principal, we offer a setting where your expertise and passion for security can thrive. If you are ready to join a positive group committed to quality and creativity, we want to connect with you!

Our Engineering Culture

In our Agile/Lean DevOps environment, we've fostered a culture of innovation and experimentation across our development teams. As a customer-focused organization, we work closely with our end users and product owners to grasp and quickly address emerging business needs. Collaboration is embedded in every part of our work - from the products we create to the outstanding service we provide. We are driven by the belief that diversity of thought, background, and perspective is essential to designing the highest-quality products and experiences for our customers. Join us and become part of a highly ambitious team committed to delivering outstanding solutions!